Carolina Cruz-Neira, Virtual Reality Pioneer (commons.wikimedia.org)
WOMEN AND ADVERSITY: CAROLINA CRUZ-NEIRA
PIONEER IN VIRTUAL REALITY
NATIONAL HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
I remember seven years ago going to a virtual reality arcade to cover a story I was assigned. Rather than choosing a game to play, I chose to take a leisurely walk through a park filled with flowers, trees and sunshine. I donned the headset, stepped on the treadmill and the 360-degree immersive experience opened a world of wonder for me. I was in this arcade, but virtually I was outside in the park. Carolina Cruz-Neira is responsible for this.
Her discovery of Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, known as CAVE, goes further. CAVE is immersive virtual reality in which images are projected on walls and the floor of a room where several people gather. They wear special stereo-equipped glasses and can interact with each other.
In 1992, Cruz-Neira and two other systems engineers developed the first CAVE, but in 1995 for her Ph.D. dissertation, she developed the specifications and implementations for using CAVE.
Computer science wasn’t her dream job. When Cruz-Neira was growing up she wanted to be a ballet dancer, and ballet consumed her life. At 21, she broke her knee in a skiing accident, which made it impossible for her to make ballet her career. However, she got a job at a company that provided computing services. Her life changed again, and she is now known worldwide as a computer scientist who changed virtual reality. She is opening the door to use this technology for practical purposes.
Few facts about Cruz-Neira are available, so here is what I gathered. Bio
- 1965 – Born in Spain
- Grew up between Spain and Venezuela where her parents had a fashion import business
- 1968 – Began ballet classes
- 1986 – Skiing accident ended ballet for her
- 1989 – Won a scholarship to study in the United States
- Education
- 1987 – Bachelor’s degree in systems engineering, Universidad Metropolitana, Caracas, Venezuela
- 1991 – Master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science, University of Illinois Chicago
- 1995 – Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science, University of Illinois Chicago
Career
- 1987 – Teleprovenca in Caracas, a large data and computational center
- 1991 – IBM Wall Street as a lead visualization software architect
- 1995 – Cofounded Virtual Reality Applications Center at Iowa State University
- Several academic positions
- 2007 – Received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Virtual Reality Technical Achievement award for the development of CAVE
- Several other awards
- 2019-present – University of Central Florida, Agere Chair professor
Personal Life
- Became a U.S. citizen
- Married to Dirk Reiners, associate professor, University of Central Florida
More Information
womenofixd.com/stories/carolina-cruz-neira
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMX-K7MAbPs
spectrum.ieee.org/ballerina-turned-vr-pioneer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxtrtv8rxKw
My ebooks available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com:
Honoring 23 Black Women, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists
